Listening to Exai now. It's one of those albums you listen to occasionally. Then feel guilty for that. Some of it is truly epic. I say this on a personal level but some of the tracks you'd like to play to the masses. THAT epic. Most of the fickle people won't get it. But a good percentage will find it most profound. Which is what counts.

Even by Autechre's typical standards, "Exai" is one unfriendly beast. I'm a longtime listener and I found it almost impenetrable at first. My usual strategy is to find some unguarded entry points that I can use to crawl inside the megastructure and explore. If you're looking for those, here they are: jatevee C, bladelores, 1 1 is, nodezsh, YJY UX. Venture beyond at your own risk.

The average track length is 7 minutes. Much like the "Versions" edition of "Quaristice", the longer tracks tend to begin chaotically, but then change into a quieter second movement. It's these second movements that interest me most: more melodic elements present themselves, themes emerge, and sometimes the track takes an abrupt left turn. Here and there, you get a tantalizing snatch of almost-recognizable musical styles (dubstep, dub, etc) viewed through Autechre's unique lens.

I pre-ordered the digital copy of Exai, listened a bit, and was initially put off. Some time later, I heard YJY UX almost by accident and suddenly connected with it, which led me to delve in further. But even now, I find Exai best in small doses. Yes, the sound design is flawless (use headphones), and yes, there are great moments waiting to be found. No, it doesn't cohere at all into a unified whole, and no, it doesn't have the same emotional weight as their early work (but hey, that ship has sailed). So my final opinion is mixed.

Still, I must hand it to these guys: while many musical acts mellow out with the passing of time, Autechre have gotten, if anything, even LESS accommodating. I mean that as a compliment. I really do respect their devotion to artistic rigor, even if it doesn't always stir the heart or agree with the eardrums.

I was in Japan at the time of release and fretted endlessly over which version to buy. The limited Japanese edition is packaged like the standard European edition (although it does have the extra track), so in the end I decided to buy the standard Japanese double-cd in jewelcase, referenced above. It has quite a flimsy booklet representing the inner sleeve designs, so it doesn't feel very special.

As a silly little extra, though, my version, bought at Discunion, had a keyring shrinkwrapped with it. It's about 1.5" square, bearing the front cover design - no lettering. On the back, it says

Finally got ahold of a physical copy of the vinyl. Don't agree at all about the packaging being ugly.I really love the cover, the box, the art design and all the chosen colours. Also awesome that it's designed to fit the L-event EP inside too. Slide mine right inside ;)

Not sure what I think about this album yet. What I do feel is that CD 1 feels a bit formulaic and mechanical. CD2 strikes me as being both more inventive and emotionally grounded. It definitely doesn't have the impact for me of their best though - for me: Incunabula, EP7, Confield, Draft 7:30, and Chastic Slide. Don't know how anyone could declare as a masterpiece?

Autechre really demonstrate their amassed skill with electronic music on this album more than any other. Every detail is altered so much throughout the length of the tracks that I can't tell what they are even doing regardless of how much I listen. This album will provide endless thought and contains all the aural experimentation of previous releases on an even larger scale than before. As previously stated here, the box itself is a very ugly package, much uglier than the photos make it look, but the music inside more than makes up for that.